There is No Such Thing as a Bad Hunter

Guildmaster Rank B? Title XX’s First X?
World’s First Awakened One
XXX X’s Savior
XXX’s XXX
The Pampered Youngest
No Name’s Guildmaster
The Person Who Sees the Truth HP 78 + 50 MP 1402 + 560 Strength 50 + 10 Agility 72 + 12 Skill [OFF] Stabilize ( EX )
Blessing of the Star ( EX )
The First Baptism ( S? )
Absorption of the Celestial Sphere ( SSS )
Water Attribute Increase ( SSS )
Guidance of Cassiopeia ( SS )
Understand ( S )
The Happy Prince ( A )
Magic Resistance ( D )
XXXXX XX ( EX )

Stats will fluctuate depending on the skill used.

With the mana he had already saved with the staff’s [Save Mana] option, combined with the mana he had before, his max MP right now was 1962.

Even though an MP of 1962 was already very high, because his goal was to test his skills out this time, Jiho collected even more mana.

[Absorption of the Celestial Sphere.]

As he whispered the simple command, mana gathered towards Jiho.

Mana is everywhere.
Jiho can absorb mana even from destroyed brick walls or piles of trash.

Of course, the most mana is in living things.

Based on the results of his tests, [Absorption of the Celestial Sphere] cannot absorb mana from awakened ones.2 However, it can collect a bit of mana from non-awakened ones and animals.
Even if he doesn’t consciously control the amount, the skill absorbs just enough mana to not cause any harm.

There doesn’t seem to be a limit to how far he can absorb mana from.
Theoretically, Jiho might be able to absorb mana from all over the world.

‘Careful, careful…’

The amount of mana that Jiho absorbed this time was a little less than the amount he absorbed with the middle-schooler.

Theory and reality are different.

When looking at the explanation of the skill, it seems like there is no limit to the amount of mana that Jiho can absorb without any consequences.

But once the mana he absorbs hits 1481 is where the problem begins.
He starts to feel a bit of pain until he absorbs 3000 MP.
At that time, he starts to feel like his body is getting ripped apart, until he absorbs past 5000, where he faints.

Jiho guessed that once he absorbs past the sum of his HP and original MP, which is 1480, his body begins to reject it.

It was a good thing that he had tested it out on his own; if he had gotten caught by someone, he would’ve been dragged back home by his sister.

Anyway, he didn’t get caught.
Jiho only gathered 1400 MP just to be safe.

Although he had spent a long time thinking, the actual absorption only took 4-5 seconds.

As Jiho was thinking about how to distribute his mana…

He felt a different wave of mana.

Despite it being a warm spring day, a gust of freezing air blew over them, carrying with it a bitter scent.
From the direction the wind was blowing over from, a fissure was slowly ripping open.

As was predicted, the fissure continued to expand even further.
It grew bigger, and bigger…

Until a polygonal-shaped gate appeared before their eyes.

A gate is different from a normal door.
Although it exists, it is not in a form that can be touched.

Had it been a normal door, they would’ve been able to see the scene behind the door.
But from a gate, they can only see a murky wave, as if someone had taken different colors of paint and was shaking them together.

“It doesn’t… look like it’s a B-rank.”

Lim Seung Joo said cautiously as he looked towards the gate.

Like he said, the mana near the gate was unusual.
The most obvious sign of this was that the color of the gate was dark3.

Typically, the higher the rank of the gate, the darker the color gets.4 The color of an S-rank guild is close to black.
The gate in front of them was a dark red, almost purple color.
This was definitely an A-rank gate. 

“For now, stay alert, and let’s call for support-”

“Is there really a need to call for support?”

Sori cut off Seung Joo’s words confidently.
Even though she was standing in front of an A-rank gate that she had never gone up against before, Sori was full of confidence, with not one bit of worry.

Receiving Seung Joo’s confused look, Sori gestured towards Jiho.

“We have Guildmaster-nim.
Vice-Guildmaster-nim must have seen the news too.”

“But that news…”

Seung Joo frowned, as though he still couldn’t believe in the news.
Had it been before, Sori would have said something like ‘Why is the person who’s supposed to be a vice-guildmaster so crooked?’ But instead of saying that, Sori laughed.

“Pretend you’re being tricked into it just this once and trust us.
There’s no harm in doing so.”

Looking at Sori, who was as proud as if it was her skill she was talking about, Jiho laughed. 

Even when others had ignored him, Heo Sori stayed by Jiho’s side.
Even if it wasn’t as much as Jiho was, it seemed that she, too, felt happy about the new skill.

While they were still talking, something long slipped through the gate.

A sharp toe attached to a large, stubby foot like that of an elephant.
The dark toes were as big as a child’s hand.
The size of the body being slowly revealed through the gate was much larger than the gate itself.
To the point where it looked like it couldn’t come out.

Yet the monster still made it out of the gate, completely defying the laws of physics.

The monster was as big as a freight truck.
If you had to compare it to an animal, it looked like a cross between a hippo and a deer, but much uglier and more dangerous.

It had a large and bulky dark-colored body like that of a hippo.
On top of this body, there was a hard shell that looked like a piece of armor.
A thin layer of mana laid on top of the armor.
It was probably defense magic.

On both sides of the head were large antlers the size of a human.
From those antlers, an unknown substance dripped down, triggering the barrier magic whenever it hit the ground.

Golden eyes on the tips of the weird antlers shined eerily.5

The monster was definitely different from the low-ranked monsters they usually fought.
The surrounding mana shook from the monster’s aura alone.

Sori, who had acted confidently before, tensed up from the monster’s aura.
Seeing that, Seung Joo snorted.

“Do you still plan to trust in Guildmaster-nim?”

“Of course.”

Jiho used his skill on Sori, who answered without a second of hesitation.

[Blessing of the Star.]

 

Footnotes

1. The tears streaming down my eyes right now.

2. I’m pretty sure the original description said he can’t absorb from people of a higher rank than him.
Can he not do so from any awakened one?

3. Specifically very dark and saturated.

4. I’m guessing this means the color of the Dungeon’s Gate.

5. As someone who has a hard time visualizing things, I was utterly confused by this description.
Please enjoy this professionally photoshopped recreation: